VHS to digital with PVR150 or HVR1600

[JimLS]

Looking to convert some home recordings and maybe some other stuff. Have both these cards from using them long ago for Linux DVR (mythtv). Have a couple VHS VCRs that have issues (don't remember exactly what) but saw a couple supposedly tested players at a local thrift shop for $5 each so thinking it's worth the gamble and far less time than repairing mine. Looks like there is lots more to this than first thought at least for best result. Not looking for studio quality so as long as it's near the original I would be happy. Before anyone says look around here and read some, I did that but some of it was over my head. I tried searching for guides but several searches for basic keywords returned nothing (I did select all guides and left the other selections at all). Players at the store are JVC HR-A54U and Panasonic PV-V4022A. My non-working are Magnavox VR3210AT01 and Sanyo VHR-9413.

[Brad]

How many tapes? Would you be comfortable mailing them to a reputable service for conversion, or handing them over locally if there's a good place?

You don't have any of the recommended hardware, so you're starting from zero if you want a good DIY result.

[JimLS]

About 3 or 4 that I really want. Would probably do more if doing it myself. What am I looking at for good hardware (not top of the line)? I see lots of places advertise this service and price is all over - what's a typical price for good results (no editing, just transfer)?

[Brad]

There's a reputable user here who recently offered to transfer a tape for someone. I imagine 4 would also not be a problem, but I don't want to speak for them. If the charge was $25/tape, you'd get better results than spending $100 on a thrifted VCR and other "entry-level" hardware. Actually even if the charge was $100/tape, you couldn't buy the hardware that user has for $400...

Downside: you would have to mail the tapes to west coast USA.

[JimLS]

Thanks for that. Actually, the thrift store unit is $5 and a name brand. No doubt not as good as someone that is seriously set up for this though.

[Alwyn]

$5! Why wouldn't you!

Give it a shot. Try a sacrificial tape in it (after giving it a good clean inside) to make sure the mechanism is OK; you don't want it to eat one of your good tapes. You'll soon find out if the VCR's picture and mechanism is bad or good.

Whether your digitisers are any good... you already own them so give them a shot too. If they don't work out, you can decide how deep you want to go yourself or get someone else to do it for you. But certainly, if "Would probably do more if doing it myself" is the case, have a go yourself.

As for guides, there are some about, you just have to know where to find them.

[Brad]

$5! Why wouldn't you!

Unfortunately the Panasonic PV-V series is garbage. Horrible over-sharpening that can't be disabled. I don't think these got released in Australia, so you probably haven't been subjected to their output. You'd have to pay me more than $5 to take one off your hands.

JVC HR-A54U is some basic 1998 Hi-Fi model with SQPB. Could be "okay".

Whether your digitisers are any good... you already own them so give them a shot too.

I guess that depends on whether they're okay with hardware MPEG-2 encoding.

[JimLS]

I guess that depends on whether they're okay with hardware MPEG-2 encoding.

Not sure exactly what you are getting at but think it is the lossy compression? Given the so-so quality of the original (guessing a bit on that) does that really make a significant difference?

I did pick up the JVC. Basic functioning works although the eject sometimes doesn't quite complete and I need to grab the cartridge. If nothing else I can now review what's on my tapes to decide which ones are worth converting.

[Brad]

I'm glad you got a VCR that's working well enough to review your tapes.

Not sure exactly what you are getting at but think it is the lossy compression? Given the so-so quality of the original (guessing a bit on that) does that really make a significant difference?

Yes. VHS = noisy. Noise compresses poorly ("noise eats bits").

Intuition: lower-quality sources should require a lower bitrate to compress faithfully.

Reality: the opposite can be true for VHS digitization, because higher-quality sources are "cleaner".

You'll likely also find you need to add a "DVD recorder passthrough" to get captures to PC with stable horizontal lines and no A/V desync. If you can't find this locally, I think the ones worth using now command $50-100 online. Of course, you may get lucky.

This is the rabbithole I suggested you might avoid, in favour of having them converted by someone who already has top-notch hardware and the knowledge of how to use it.